Hempelian and Kuhnian approaches in the philosophy of medicine: the Semmelweis case

Semmelweis?s investigations of puerperal fever are some of the most interesting in the history of medicine. This paper considers Hempel?s (1966) analysis of the Semmelweis case. It argues that this analysis is inadequate and needs to be supplemented by some Kuhnian ideas. Kuhn?s notion of paradigm needs to be modified to apply to medicine in order to take account of the classification schemes involved in medical theorising. However with a suitable modification it provides an explanation of Semmelweis?s failure which is argued to be superior to some of the external reasons often given. Despite this success in applying Kuhn?s ideas to medicine, it is argued that these ideas must be further modified to take account of the fact that medicine is not a natural science but primarily a practice designed to prevent and cure diseases

O extraordinário no ordinário: folclore a potenciar arte contemporânea

I have often contemplated if contemporary art truly contemporaneous? Is it important and meaningful to people’s lives? Is it inclusive enough? This project arises from my own doubts and grievances heard from the public. In trying to find my own place in arts cultural system this project examines the potential for folklore, folk art in contemporary art making. My lifelong experience through fisheries and maritime communities runs parallel with my appreciation of folk artists, namely female artists, whose way of life, restlessness, authenticity, practical knowledge and, in some cases, cultural resilience, continually speak to me on a deep level. Their inspiration and my own pride in my maritime heritage makes me draw upon the power of this culture to work towards cultural diversity for social cohesion, celebrating ourselves and our community, so that we may bring it outwards. As I argue folk art unites us, but contemporary art expands us.Tenho muitas vezes contemplado se a arte contemporânea é verdadeiramente contemporânea? É importante e significativo para a vida das pessoas? É inclusivo o suficiente? Este projeto surge das minhas próprias dúvidas e queixas ouvidas do público. Ao tentar encontrar meu próprio lugar no sistema cultural das artes, este projeto examina o potencial do folclore, da arte popular no fazer artístico contemporâneo. A minha experiência ao longo da vida através das comunidades piscatórias e marítimas corre paralelamente à minha apreciação por artistas populares, nomeadamente artistas femininas, cujo modo de vida, inquietação, autenticidade, conhecimento prático e, em alguns casos, resiliência cultural, falam-me continuamente a um nível profundo. A sua inspiração e o meu próprio orgulho na minha herança marítima fazem-me aproveitar o poder desta cultura para trabalhar pela diversidade cultural para a coesão social, celebrando a nós mesmos e à nossa comunidade, para que possamos trazê-la para fora. Como defendo, a arte popular nos une, mas a arte contemporânea nos expande.Mestrado em Criação Artística Contemporâne

The role of collaboration in the cognitive development of young children: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Collaboration is a key facilitator of cognitive development in early childhood; this review evaluates which factors mediate the impact of collaborative interactions on cognitive development in children aged 4-7 years. METHODS: A systematic search strategy identified relevant studies (n = 21), which assessed the role of ability on the relationship between collaboration and cognitive development. Other factors that interact with ability were also assessed: gender, sociability/friendship, discussion, age, feedback and structure. RESULTS: Immediate benefits of collaboration on cognitive development are highlighted for same-age peers. Collaborative interactions are beneficial for tasks measuring visual perception, problem-solving and rule-based thinking, but not for word-reading and spatial perspective-taking. Collaboration is particularly beneficial for lower-ability children when there is an ability asymmetry. High-ability children either regressed or did not benefit when paired with lower-ability participants. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the studies included within this review indicate that brief one-off interactions can have a significant, positive effect on short-term cognitive development in children of infant school age. The longer-term advantages of collaboration are still unclear. Implications for practice and future research are discussed

Patient information leaflets (PILs) for UK randomised controlled trials : a feasibility study exploring whether they contain information to support decision making about trial participation

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Carboxymethylchitosan/poly (amidoamine) dendrimer nanoparticles in central nervous systems-regenerative medicine: effects on neuron/glial cell viability and internalization efficiency

The applicability of CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles for CNS applications was investigated. AFM and TEM observations revealed that the nanoparticles possessed a nanosphere- like shape with a size from 22.0 to 30.7 nm. The nanoparticles could be bound to fluorescent-probe FITC for tracing purposes. Post-natal hippocampal neurons and cortical glial cells were both able to internalize the FITC-labeled CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles with high efficiency. The percentage of positive cells internalizing the nanoparticles varied, reaching a peak after 48 h of incubation. Further experiments for periods up to 7 d revealed that the periodical addition of FITC-labelled CMCht/ PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles was needed to maintain the overall percentage of cells internalizing them. Finally, it was also observed that cell viability was not significantly affected by the incubation of dendrimer nanoparticles.Financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology through funds from POCTI and/or FEDER programs (Funding to ICVS, 3B's Research Group, post-doctoral and pre-doctoral fellowships to A.J. Salgado and J.M. Oliveira - SFRH/BPD/17595/2004; SFRH/BD/21786/2005) is gratefully acknowledged. This work was also carried out under the scope of the European NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283) and HIPPOCRATES STREP (NMP3-CT-2003-505758) projects

Window screening, ceilings and closed eaves as sustainable ways to control malaria in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

BACKGROUND\ud \ud Malaria transmission in Africa occurs predominantly inside houses where the primary vectors prefer to feed. Human preference and investment in blocking of specific entry points for mosquitoes into houses was evaluated and compared with known entry point preferences of the mosquitoes themselves.\ud \ud METHODS\ud \ud Cross-sectional household surveys were conducted in urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to estimate usage levels of available options for house proofing against mosquito entry, namely window screens, ceilings and blocking of eaves. These surveys also enabled evaluation of household expenditure on screens and ceilings and the motivation behind their installation.\ud \ud RESULTS\ud \ud Over three quarters (82.8%) of the 579 houses surveyed in Dar es Salaam had window screens, while almost half (48.9%) had ceilings. Prevention of mosquito entry was cited as a reason for installation of window screens and ceilings by 91.4% (394/431) and 55.7% (127/228) of respondents, respectively, but prevention of malaria was rarely cited (4.3%, 22/508). The median cost of window screens was between US $21-30 while that of ceilings was between US$301-400. The market value of insecticide-treated nets, window screening and ceilings currently in use in the city was estimated as 2, 5 and 42 million US$. More than three quarters of the respondents that lacked them said it was too expensive to install ceilings (82.2%) or window screens (75.5%).\ud \ud CONCLUSION\ud \ud High coverage and spending on screens and ceilings implies that these techniques are highly acceptable and excellent uptake can be achieved in urban settings like Dar es Salaam. Effective models for promotion and subsidization should be developed and evaluated, particularly for installation of ceilings that prevent entry via the eaves, which are the most important entry point for mosquitoes that cause malaria, a variety of neglected tropical diseases and the nuisance which motivates uptake

Improving corporate governance in state-owned corporations in China: which way forward?

This article discusses corporate governance in China. It outlines the basic agency problem in Chinese listed companies and questions the effectiveness of the current mechanisms employed to improve their standards of governance. Importantly, it considers alternative means through which corporate practice in China can be brought into line with international expectations and stresses the urgency with which this task must be tackled. It concludes that regulators in China must construct a corporate governance model which is compatible with its domestic setting and not rush to adopt governance initiatives modelled on those in cultures which are fundamentally different in the hope of also reproducing their success

Aerodynamic roughness parameters in cities: inclusion of vegetation

A widely used morphometric method (Macdonald et al. 1998) to calculate the zero-plane displacement (zd) and aerodynamic roughness length (z0) for momentum is further developed to include vegetation. The adaptation also applies to the Kanda et al. (2013) morphometric method which considers roughness-element height variability. Roughness-element heights (mean, maximum and standard deviation) of both buildings and vegetation are combined with a porosity corrected plan area and drag formulation. The method captures the influence of vegetation (in addition to buildings), with the magnitude of the effect depending upon whether buildings or vegetation are dominant and the porosity of vegetation (e.g. leaf-on or leaf-off state). Application to five urban areas demonstrates that where vegetation is taller and has larger surface cover, its inclusion in the morphometric methods can be more important than the morphometric method used. Implications for modelling the logarithmic wind profile (to 100 m) are demonstrated. Where vegetation is taller and occupies a greater amount of space, wind speeds may be slowed by up to a factor of three

Synthesis and Spectral Studies of CdTe–Dendrimer Conjugates

In order to couple high cellular uptake and target specificity of dendrimer molecule with excellent optical properties of semiconductor nanoparticles, the interaction of cysteine-capped CdTe quantum dots with dendrimer was investigated through spectroscopic techniques. NH2-terminated dendrimer molecule quenched the photoluminescence of CdTe quantum dots. The binding constants and binding capacity were calculated, and the nature of binding was found to be noncovalent. Significant decrease in luminescence intensity of CdTe quantum dots owing to noncovalent binding with dendrimer limits further utilization of these nanoassemblies. Hence, an attempt is made, for the first time, to synthesize stable, highly luminescent, covalently linked CdTe–Dendrimer conjugate in aqueous medium using glutaric dialdehyde (G) linker. Conjugate has been characterized through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. In this strategy, photoluminescence quantum efficiency of CdTe quantum dots with narrow emission bandwidths remained unaffected after formation of the conjugate